George Kaiser Family Foundation Makes New Investment in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• The George Kaiser Family Foundation invested approximately $285,000 in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by acquiring 611 shares during the first quarter.
• Linde reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $4.09 for the latest quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $4.03, with a year-over-year revenue growth of 2.3%.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, representing a dividend yield of 1.2%, scheduled for payment on September 18th.

George Kaiser Family Foundation purchased a new position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 611 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $285,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors raised its position in Linde by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,834,631,000 after acquiring an additional 2,957,604 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,857,741,000 after purchasing an additional 554,480 shares in the last quarter. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,128,233,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Linde by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,925,322 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,062,085,000 after buying an additional 500,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,097,793,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN stock traded down $1.65 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $480.71. The company had a trading volume of 1,238,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,063,729. The stock has a market capitalization of $225.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.92. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $468.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $460.76. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.35 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.85 earnings per share. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.300-16.500 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.20 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Linde's payout ratio is presently 42.67%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total value of $23,815,274.42. Following the sale, the director directly owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $519.63.

About Linde

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.